The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-02-03
SELOUS, THE HUNTER.
His Life and Achievements in the Wfldcr
ness of South Africa.

ness of South Africa.
Now and then man is seen in a com.
paratively humble position whose fame
is almost world wide. Such man is
Mr. F. C. Selous. Those who have
read any thing of South Africa have
heard of Mr.. Selous, the great hunter.
He figures in probably every book that
the past fifteen years. He is the most
noted of African hunters, and has writ
ten book on his wanderings in Africa
that is regarded as a guide to sport in
that part of the world.
Selous rarely gets nearer to the coast
than Klerksdorp in the Transvaal, and
his hunting grounds are two, months
travel north of that little town. He is
always accompanied by several negro
servants, who drive his two great OK
wagons and perform the usual duties
of the camp. About once a year
Selous turns up in Klerksdorp with
his two wagons filled with ivory, hides,
horns, hunting trophies and other
products of the chase. He is born
hunter. Like Daniel Boone, he loves
nothing so much as to leave civilization
hundreds of miles behind him. He
buries himself in the great wilderness
south of the Zambesi, where native
tribes are few and feeble and game
is marvelously plentiful. There he
wanders at will shooting elephants.
antelopes, buffaloes and other big
game. He carries with him supply
of groceries, but lives largely on the
game he kills. When he has loaded his
| wagons he returns to the Transvaal
trading post, where he sells the fruits
of his rifle sometimes for several thou
sands of dollars. He loads up with goods
to barter among the natives, and is off
again to the wilderness as soon as
| possible.
Selous has had many adventures, some
of which were of very unpleasant char
acter. In 1872 he wandered one day
away from his wagons, and was unable
to find them again. He was not in the
game country, but was in the midst of
trackless and sun-parched wilderness,
through which he wandered for four
days without particle of food or drink.
On one of his cheeks is a deep scar,
where a wounded buffalo once tore the
flesh with one of its horns. He hunts
over very wide range of country, and
now and then appears among tribes he
has never visited before. Sometimes
the natives are not very hospitable, but
Selous has plenty of tact and makes
| friends wherever his wanderings take
him. LIE Bengula, the powerful King
of the Matabeti, always permits Selous
to pass through his country on his hunt.
ing tours, though he often denies the
requests of other white men. "Selous,' =
said the savage. monarch to Montagu
Kerr, lis young lion. !"
Geographers the world over know oi
Sslous, for he is almost as fond of eX
plorations as he is of hunting, and, what
is better, he can accurately describe
what he sees, and can make good
map of any region he visits. Once in .
while one will see in some geographical
periodical map of some river thai
Selous has traced from its source to its
mouth. 1t is always an affiuent of the
Limbafo or Zambesi. rivers or of theil
larger tributaries. In this way he ha'
largely extended his fame, for he ha.
made himself interesting not only t.
lovers of adventure and field sports
but also to men of science. Selous is :
humble hunter and explorer, but ther'
is hardly white man in South Afric;
who would not feel little pangi if an,
disaster befell him. He would b.
mourned, too, by many thousands o
poor black people, and many friends h
never saw in Europe or America woult
speak of him in words of kind apprecia
tion.-N Y. Sun.
|